Hand-broadcasting is a seeding technique appropriate for small sites and areas up to an acre in size. View our case study of a hand-seeded meadow in Gardiner, NY.

Note: Because of native seeds’ small size and light weight, a carrier material is needed when hand-broadcasting to ensure the seeds are spread evenly and precisely. We recommend rice hulls as a carrier material; these are cheap, biodegradable and widely available on the internet. Use 100-110 lb/acre or 2.5 lb per 1000 square feet. 

Hand-Broadcasting Method: 

Prepare Your Site For Seeding

• Lightly rake leaves or other debris off the site, but disturb the soil as little as possible to avoid bringing new weed seeds to the surface. 

• Set up your site to help ensure even seeding. When scattering seed, it can be difficult to achieve even coverage by eye alone, which can result in over-seeding some areas and running out of seed in others. Two helpful techniques: 

• Break up the site into smaller sections - quarters or eighths depending on the overall size. Spray-paint or flag the boundaries of each smaller section, and divide the seed mix by weight into separate containers for each section. It’s easier to estimate an even seeding rate within a small section than in a large area. 

• Use visual cues, like stakes placed at even intervals around the border of the area to be seeded. When seeding, you can walk back and forth in straight lines between the stakes, rather than wandering at random.